Lotto fever struck Los Angeles soon after officials announced there was no winner in Tuesday’s $363 million drawing. Officials say they have met every night since Tuesday and watched the number grow from $540 million Thursday to the astronomical figured released Friday.

More tickets are expected to be sold before the 8 p.m. drawing Friday night. Lines hours long have formed at places deemed “lucky retailers” by the lottery and stores like Bluebird Liquor in Hawthorne that are known to sell winning tickets.

“It’s so high — I mean, that’s astronomical,” said Charlie Blair, 70, a retired mechanical engineer.

Blair had never played the lottery until he heard about the record payout, and he headed to a gas station near his Koreatown apartment Thursday to buy a single ticket.

According to the California Lottery, the chance of winning Mega Millions is 1 in about 176 million.

Or as California statistician Mike Orkin, puts it: If you buy 50 tickets a week, you will win the jackpot every 68,000 years.